The College of Science kicked off its new Faculty Lecture Series on April 25 with a lecture from chemistry, physics and mechanical engineering professor Mohammad A. Omary on applying light-emitting technology to real-world problems.

Omary’s presentation, “Chemistry: The Fun Science that Enables a World of Modern Apps,” focused on the advantages and disadvantages of using green energy with organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) used in modern Samsung and Apple products, potentially detecting and treating cancer with OLEDs and potentially using cheaper, more abundant materials such as copper to create these OLEDs.

About 100 faculty and students attended the event, which was part of a series intended to highlight the work of the College of Science faculty and students. It is meant to bring the UNT community together to discuss their advancements in math and science. College of Science Dean Su Gao said he wanted the lecture series to have a “TED Talk” feel with a question and answer session.

“UNT’s College of Science faculty are making great contributions to the global scientific community and we want to honor and share our achievements with the community,” Gao said in a news release. “[From this series,] attendees can expect great talks on significant scientific topics, reminding us that the university is where these important conversations should be happening in order to help guide the future of research and technology.”

The Faculty Lectures Series is meant to bring more awareness to the College of Science. Math and science subjects were classified under the College of Arts and Sciences until May 2017 when the College of Science was created.

Speakers volunteer to speak and are approved by Gao and Associate Dean Dr. Pamela Padilla, said College of Science Event and Marketing Coordinator Courtney McCreedy. Because they volunteer to speak, they are not paid to present at the lecture series “outside of their current salaries,” McCreedy said.

McCreedy said the College of Science pays for costs such as renting a room, refreshments for a reception (if there is one) and marketing materials. She said because this was its first installment, the college is still working out a typical budget for the series.

Omary, the first speaker of the series, said he was thankful for being chosen by Gao and Padilla.

His work has focused on “the design of molecular metal-organic materials for energy-related and biomedical applications based on advances in fundamental sciences,” according to the College of Science.

“I am excited about sharing some fun, rewarding stories from the multi-faceted projects my research team has been investigating as it evolved since I joined UNT back in 2001, starting with novel scientific phenomena that have enabled a plethora of modern technological and biomedical applications,” Omary said.

Some of Omary’s research involves phosphorescent materials which absorb energy from a source like the sun and release that energy slowly over a period of time.

The research and experiments presented were conducted by Omary and his students and colleagues.

“As Omary said, chemistry is everywhere, so you can see how all the grounds of chemistry can work to solve one problem,” said compositional chemistry graduate student Enrique Vazquez.

Inorganic chemistry graduate student Megan Ericson said she thinks the lecture series is a great way for UNT students to see what different departments are doing.

“[At this event] I got to learn more about other research going on in my group that I’m not involved in,” Ericson said.

The next speaker for the series will be biology professor Dr. Aaron Roberts on Sept. 26, McCreedy said.